Doctoral Dissertation: The Role of Culture in the Practice and Maintenance of Cooperation: A Cross-Cultural Study in Detroit, MI

这个项目将通过检查底特律的苗族（老挝）和迦勒底人（伊拉克）之间的“亲社会信仰和惩罚规范”来调查如何实现和维持合作。它认为，由于合作（互惠利他主义）在不同文化中差异很大，因此文化必须在形成亲社会规范方面发挥重要作用。尽管进化预期“搭便车”会破坏群体的生存能力，但文化传播的关于亲社会性的信念（规范）维持了不相关个体组成的大群体之间的合作。研究中选择的两个移民群体在合作的文化模式上存在显著差异。这项研究是在经济/进化生态学的理论框架内进行的。

This project will investigate how cooperation is achieved and maintained by examining "norms of pro-social beliefs and punishment" among the Hmong (Laos) and Chaldean (Iraq) populations of Detroit. It argues that because cooperation (reciprocal altruism) varies extensively cross-culturally, that culture must play a major role in shaping pro-social norms. Culturally transmitted beliefs (norms) concerning pro-sociality maintain cooperation among large groups of unrelated individuals despite the evolutionary expectation that "free-riders" will undermine the viability of the group. The two migrant groups chosen for the study differ significantly in their cultural patterns of cooperation. The research is framed within theories of economic/evolutionary ecology.